Since the 1985 UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, countries have legislated to recognize the special status of victims within criminal procedures and to set out the basic obligations of police, prosecutors, courts, and corrections to respond. Alongside legislated legal reforms, civil society groups have pressed for greater recognition of and protections for specific victimized populations to enable access to justice. At their introduction, rights instruments were faulted as soft law and lacking enforcement provisions. Rights for victims, it was said, were not ‘real’. However, while there have been advances in many areas, there has been no comprehensive compilation of scholarship on contemporary practice in the promotion, protection, and enforcement of rights for crime victims.

The Special Issue of the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (IJCACJ) aims to fill this gap in the academic literature by bringing together research on these dispersed activities in one volume. It will comprise a comprehensive and comparative review of existing crime victims’ regimes, critical reflection on their efficacy, and suggestions for future reforms. Contributors from different countries and different legal systems are invited to submit articles (6000 words) that are conceptual and/or empirical. Data-driven pieces may be quantitative or qualitative or mixed. The Special Issue will pay particular attention to existing practices with a view to influencing future policy and law reform. In order to paint this comprehensive but pragmatic picture, contributions will examine (but not be limited to):

· Strategic litigation

· Human rights as framework for victims’ rights

· Civil society advocacy

· Statutory rights protecting entities

· Strengths and limitations of policy directives

· Deploying third-party legal mechanisms

· New roles for private counsel for victims

· Commissions of inquiries and law reform

Submission Instructions

Contributions should be submitted directly to the IJCACJ through ScholarOne with the subject line as Special Issue: Victim Rights. Each article will be reviewed by ‘blind’ peer assessors selected by the IJCACJ in their usual process. Guest editors will offer a preliminary review of contributions. Publication is not automatic. Contributions for the special issue will comply with the IJCACJ guidelines. The deadline for all contributions is 1st March 2019 with a view to online publication in December 2019.